Smart Call Delivery (SCD) is a service offered by some telecommunications service providers. Using conventional SCD, subscribers are able to re-direct calls made to their wireline phone to an associated wireless device. If the wireless device is on, the call is directed to the wireless phone. Although SCD is particularly useful to those who travel frequently, subscribers oftentimes forget to turn off their wireless device when returning to the home or office where SCD is not needed. Consequently, calls are re-directed to the wireless device when it may have been more economical from the point of view of the subscriber to receive the call via a wireline phone. Because wireless airtime charges may be greater than those for standard wireline services, a subscriber can incur additional expense if SCD is not limited to use only when the subscriber is away from the proximity of the subscriber's wireline phone.
A second though unrelated problem facing wireless 'subscribers is the inability of emergency care personnel to pinpoint a caller's location. Using geographic information system (GIS) applications, calls from a wireline phone can be associated with an address and represented on a computer-generated map. Calls from wireless devices, on the other hand, cannot be associated with a fixed address. This raises concerns about public safety, because emergency services such as 911 frequently rely on GIS information when responding to calls. As a result, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has introduced the Emergency 911 (E-911) mandate, requiring that wireless phone providers incorporate automatic location identification (ALI) features into their products by October of 2001. Using ALI technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS) and cellular triangulation, E-911 callers can be pinpointed well within the requirement of the FCC mandate.
Although the number of wireless products and services incorporating ALI features has been rapidly increasing in response to E-911 requirements, no system or method exists for utilizing these technologies to determine when wireless services such as SCD should be enabled or disabled.
Thus, a need exists for a system that integrates the locational capabilities of wireless devices with GIS technology to improve the functionality and minimize the costs associated with existing services. In particular, combining these technologies would allow subscribers to conserve wireless airtime when more economical wireline alternatives may be available.